Betsy LangowskiI’m looking through my Macintosh user guide (the booklet that accompanied my 1984 Macintosh) for the first time in a while, and I’m a little obsessed with this graphic explaining scrolling.
Chris Espinosa@superbetsy /me waves
kira for scale@Cdespinosa @superbetsy was that one of your contributions?
@kirakira @superbetsy Carol Kaehler wrote the copy, Ellen Romano drew the art, Pam Stanton-Wyman was the print production lead, and of course everybody contributed… but that started from a sketch of mine in the User Interface Guidelines.
It wasn’t an original idea. “Scroll” was a metaphor, just like “window” and “desktop.” While metaphors are supposed to map known experiences onto new ones, most people had no physical experience with an actual scroll, so we had to illustrate it.
@Cdespinosa @kirakira well that story made my week!!!!! I need to post more of the graphics and turns of phrase (“windowful” is another favorite)!
Bärbel Schmidt@superbetsy @Cdespinosa @kirakira
In the old days when I worked as a software trainer mainly for beginners suddenly a colleague came out of a seminar room. After she closed the door she burst into laughter.... When she recovered a bit she explained: "I told the class to close the window. Well, one stood up and closed the window..."
Common Sparrow@tarbonam @superbetsy @Cdespinosa @kirakira
My dad and I got our first computer in 2007, (a castoff from a relative). We didn't know any of the jargon, which was a foreign language to us. We referred to the computer's "brain box", and its "typewriter" and other names we made up ourselves. A couple of years later, my workplace switched from normal cash registers to computer-screen registers, which is where I began to learn the terms everyone else used. The first time I was told to "close the window", I was baffled, until a helpful colleague translated it as "click the red X in the corner". Oh! To me and my dad, that was called "crossing out the screen"!
My dad and I got our first computer in 2007, (a castoff from a relative). We didn't know any of the jargon, which was a foreign language to us. We referred to the computer's "brain box", and its "typewriter" and other names we made up ourselves. A couple of years later, my workplace switched from normal cash registers to computer-screen registers, which is where I began to learn the terms everyone else used. The first time I was told to "close the window", I was baffled, until a helpful colleague translated it as "click the red X in the corner". Oh! To me and my dad, that was called "crossing out the screen"!
@CommonSparrow @superbetsy @Cdespinosa @kirakira
You were quite inventive :))
Well I can't count how many people pronounced the German CTRL (STRG) as String instead of Steuerung. And I have no idea who started this weird trend...
Basically - if you teach beginners something new, just explain the basics. Which includes e.g. windows in Windows ;)
@tarbonam
Yes, explaining the basics has to include explaining the terminology, so we can all use the same words. A lot of self-taught folks know how to do basic things, but can't follow tips on how to improve because we don't know the language of the explanation. Acronyms always tripped me up, and I had to keep stopping to look up what they stand for. (I learned a lot of terminology at work, but my dad preferred to keep using his home-made terminology, so when bringing home computer tips from work, I translated into his lingo.)
Yes, explaining the basics has to include explaining the terminology, so we can all use the same words. A lot of self-taught folks know how to do basic things, but can't follow tips on how to improve because we don't know the language of the explanation. Acronyms always tripped me up, and I had to keep stopping to look up what they stand for. (I learned a lot of terminology at work, but my dad preferred to keep using his home-made terminology, so when bringing home computer tips from work, I translated into his lingo.)